Class Assignment (3): The Misfits of Class 13

A short while later, the announcement rang out across the dormitories and the entire academy.

It should have been broadcast from the dorms much earlier, but a rather unfortunate incident had forced a delay. The follow-up message soon followed.

The instructors had turned a blind eye to the beastmen rushing out to explore the academy despite orders to wait inside. It wasn’t a huge problem—until someone got lost and missed the entrance ceremony. That was serious.

Flap. Flap.

White doves soared into the sky above the academy. They weren’t real birds, but white spirits.

"Look, we just follow those!"

"What was the point of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠telling us to wait, then?"

"No idea. Probably some delay with the entrance ceremony prep."

Thanks to the instructors’ familiars guiding the way, the students who had stayed in the dorms began trickling into the banquet hall one by one.

"This is it!!"

"I’m first!!"

Not everyone arrived at once. The more hot-headed carnivorous beastmen charged in like they were racing each other.

"Huh?"

"That’s..."

"Kuh, the Obelisk?!"

The moment they stepped inside, their eyes locked onto the massive Obelisk soaring toward the ceiling. Above it hung a banner with letters so large that even someone with eyes smaller than knotholes could read them clearly.

The legendary magic tool said to have been used during the war. They were really going to use something that could strip away reason and turn people into beasts as an entrance exam? One wrong move and the successor of an entire race might end up as nothing more than a mindless animal.

"Ugh..."

While the beastmen hesitated, their gazes suddenly shifted.

"Eh?!"

"Those two...?"

Two figures had already claimed their seats. One was a white rabbit sitting with her head bowed, staring blankly. The other was a blonde sheep with her arms crossed.

"What."

The sheep beastman pointed at the Obelisk, her face twisted with irritation.

"Hurry up. I want to finish this entrance ceremony and go rest."

"Wh-what...?"

"That’s...!"

Class 13. I had no idea why it was numbered thirteen, but if the rabbit princess was in it, something unusual was definitely going on.

"What the."

The blonde, tanned sheep beastman glanced at the clock on the wall.

"Scared?"

She sneered.

"...Ha."

The beastmen’s expressions crumpled in an instant. Especially the muscular wolf with wolf ears sprouting from his head—his eyes burned crimson with rage.

"A mere sheep dares—!"

"A carnivore who can’t even challenge a trial that a sheep passed. Was all that meat you ate wasted?"

"What the hell did you just—"

"Hey."

Crack.

The air froze over.

"Why don’t you hurry up and take the trial?"

The words were polite, but the rabbit princess’s voice was sharper than any blade. The gaze she lifted was beyond fierce—it looked like it could rip someone’s limbs off with nothing but a glare.

"Ahem."

Instructor Largorian cleared his throat at the killing intent and stepped forward.

"All students who have entered, form a line and challenge the trial."

"Wh-what happens if we don’t challenge it?"

"Not challenging it?"

Instructor Largorian bristled his white mane and pointed at the banner.

"Only those who challenge the trial may take a seat."

"......!!"

"If you don’t like it, leave. And once you leave the academy, you’re gone for good."

"Ha."

The beastmen snorted and stepped up to the Obelisk.

"Something like this is nothing!!"

Whether word had spread that the class assignments were back on track after the Obelisk repairs, beastmen began entering the banquet hall one after another. All unfamiliar faces. But it wasn’t just the twelve main races—dogs, pigs, horses, sheep, chickens, and the like.

There were those with deer antlers, those with massive longhorn beetle horns rising from their foreheads, and even a lamia whose upper body was that of a human woman but whose snake lower half crawled across the floor without a skirt. And then—

"Ugh."

—a cockroach beastman wearing the academy uniform.

The category of “beastmen” was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠incredibly broad, and I couldn’t help but chuckle at the sheer variety of beings gathered here that defied any simple definition.

So all of them are my competitors.

Three hundred beastmen. Only twelve could receive the King’s Symbol.

...At least, that was the official line. It could easily end up being just one.

When you thought about it that way, even if we were placed in the same class, everyone here was essentially a future enemy. We might cooperate during group projects, but the academy’s ultimate goal was clear grades to obtain the King’s Symbol. To earn those grades, it was best to be placed in a strong class, but—

"Unicorn beastman, Virginserker!! Class 2!!"

"Kugh?! Me, in Class 2?! I should at least be in Class 1...!"

After roughly a hundred people had taken the trial, both those who had already been assigned and those still waiting in line began to understand.

"Look at the ones sitting in Class 1. Laopeld, Eskumond, Lakarax...!"

"They’re all absolute powerhouses."

"Meanwhile, Class 12 is full of minor tribes..."

"So they really divided the classes purely by skill? How blatant."

The closer the number was to one, the stronger the student assigned to it. The weaker the student, the closer they were pushed to twelve.

"Then what about those two?"

"...No idea."

The only real variables were me and Bleber. Setting aside that suspicious golden-sun cosplayer, everyone seemed to be wondering why Bleber had been placed in Class 13 instead of 1 or 2.

There was no one who could give them the answer. At least not until this new Class 13 made its purpose clear.

"Killer whale beastman, Orca!! Class 13!"

Right on cue, someone was assigned to Class 13.

"Haa?! Why am I in Class 13?!"

Whether to emphasize that she was a killer whale beastman or not, she wore a hoodie patterned like orca skin and shoved both hands into her pockets while throwing a tantrum.

"This is wrong! This has to be—!"

"There is nothing wrong."

She tried to make a scene, but no matter how fierce a killer whale was, on land she was no match for a white serpent. Especially when the opponent was an instructor whose combat strength rivaled a high-ranking knight. Even three of the promising talents in Class 1 wouldn’t be able to beat him if they attacked together.

"What’s wrong with it?! I’m at least intermediate knight level!!"

"Go."

"You—!"

"If you don’t sit down, I will process your expulsion."

"...Tsk!!"

The killer whale shot the instructor a furious glare, then stomped over to Class 13—straight toward me.

Thud!

She yanked a chair out roughly and sat far away from me. Legs spread wide, hands still stuffed in her pockets—she looked exactly like a delinquent who thought acting like a thug made her look cool.

A sheep, a rabbit, and now a killer whale.

The trials continued. Like pieces of a puzzle snapping into place, the beastmen filled the seats one by one. Every time a particularly strong-looking student stood before the Obelisk, murmurs rippled through the banquet hall.

The reaction grew even louder when a student with a dragon’s head and blue scales covering his uniform appeared.

"A descendant of the upper four species..."

Bleber, who had been quietly grinding her teeth, murmured softly as she watched the dragonian.

Anyone who knew nothing would have asked, “Upper four species?”

"A descendant of the Azure Dragon."

"Exactly."

But after a full year of preparation, there was no way I wouldn’t know. Tiger. Snake. Dragon. Chicken. The successors of the twelve races—students who already possessed strength rivaling the instructors.

The white tiger, black snake, blue dragon, and red chicken.

Among them, the one called the Azure Dragon had appeared and now stood before the Obelisk.

Soon after—

"Blue-blooded dragonian, Corvalt!! Class 13!!"

The blue dragon who completed the trial stared at the number 13 for a long time. The entire banquet hall erupted into murmurs.

Why not Class 1? What exactly was Class 13? Why the ominous number thirteen?

"Jellyfish beastman, Anelis!! Class 13!!"

"Butterfly beastman, Hane!! Class 13!!"

"Arachne beastman, Zepi!! Class 13!!"

The instructors’ booming voices continued assigning each student. Two hundred and ninety-eight. Only two remained.

"Uwaaak!!"

"Heuk, heuk, heuk...!"

The two beastmen who came running in screaming were a male-female pair.

"We finally made it!! This is the banquet hall, right, Lily?!"

"Please stop yelling and just shut up already...! Sebius...!"

Sebius, a minority race. And Lily... whose entire body was covered in fur.

Hey buddy. This is what you call a “furry,” and it’s top-tier in that industry, you know? They even say stuff like “We have no gender.” Heh. Female comment.

A three-tailed fox beastman. Out of the three hundred gathered here, nearly two hundred looked like animal parts had simply been glued onto human bodies, but there were always those who preferred the suspicious types.

"Is that the trial? Hurry up, Lily! Come on!"

"Agh, seriously...! I can’t live like this...! Having a childhood friend like you...!"

Whirring.

"Lily! It says I’m 13!"

"I heard you, so—huh?"

"Wow! Lily! You’re 13 too!"

"Iron Bull tribe’s Sebius! Nine-tailed Fox tribe’s Lily! Both assigned to Class 13!!"

With the final pair, the class assignments for all three hundred new students were complete.

Setting my new classmates aside for a moment, the overall impression after looking over Classes 1 through 12 was—

They divided them by hierarchy in the most blatant way possible.

It really was a food pyramid. The students in Class 1 radiated powerful auras, while Class 12 felt like nothing more than a gathering of average people. There was even that fishman who had picked a fight with me and gotten beaten for it.

As for Class 13, it was truly—

Not even a full twelve members, and every single one of them has an insanely strong personality.

The rabbit princess currently engaged in a staring contest with the rabbit beastman seated in Class 1. The killer whale delinquent ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠girl still sitting with sloppy posture. The blue dragon sitting perfectly straight yet openly displaying his displeasure. The jellyfish girl whose hair drooped like tentacles, radiating anxiety. The butterfly smiling gently. The spider girl licking her lips while staring at that butterfly. The minority race who had energetically approached shouting “I’m Sebius!” only to stand there awkwardly when no one responded. The three-tailed fox who smacked his back in embarrassment and forced him to sit.

...And me.

Dressed up in a golden-sun cosplay, but in truth an animal that should not exist in this place—a human.

"Everyone, attention."

Instructor Largorian’s voice echoed loudly through the banquet hall.

"The dean of Cadelis Academy will now enter."

The dean of the academy. The one who played a crucial role in bestowing the twelve King’s Symbols and held overall responsibility for the institution.

"Please welcome him with applause. One of the Dragon’s priests and the greatest Archmage."

And according to my information, the most powerful great magician in this world.

"Lobo the Teraniski. He is the academy’s dean."

"Hohohoho."

The great magician was a wolf beastman with navy-blue hair streaked with crimson highlights, wearing the robe of an archmage. He looked straight at me...

"...Hehehe."

...and smiled suspiciously.